Union secretary retires

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33058, 27 October 1972, Page 14

Union secretary retires

A union secretary with 30 years service was described last evening by “bosses” from Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin as “a gentleman,” “a big man in every way,” and “a man of his word.” The occasion was a farewell to Mr R. A. Hill, national secretary of the New Zealand -Clothing Workers’ Federation, arranged by the New Zealand Textile and Garment Manufacturers’ Federation. Mr Hill is shown above, at right, with Mr J. J. Delahunt, the garment manufacturers’ assessor. Mr J. G. Ashton, president of the federation, presented Mr Hill with a silver tray. The president of the Canterbury trade group, Mr F. H. Baird, said that Mr Hill had been held in esteem by the management. “I well remember my first meeting with him years ago,” he said. “He came into my office and thumped the desk, I remember I told him to get out. Over the years, we have had lots of clashes—but he always seemed to win the battles.

“I never worried about fighting Roy Hill. He is a big man, an honest man, and a man of his word. We have differed, agreed, and compromised, but when we settled we never had to have it in writing.” Mr Delahunt, of Wellington, the longest-serving assessor for the employers, said Mr Hill was the longestserving assessor on the other side of the table. Mr Hill had been a union leader who had showed commonsense and human understanding in conciliation and settlements. “I think we need the oldtimers,” Mr Delahunt said. “I remember haggling over 3c and up to 5c an hour. Recently, we have been giving away 17c an hour and creating problems for ourselves in our industry by throwing our costings out of gear. If we are not very careful, we are going to ruin our industry, in comparison with the rest of the world, by high costs and the tendency to have tariff protection and lower tariffs.”

The only saviour of equal pay was to introduce piecework into the industry again, Mr Delahunt said. This would give equality of work. The workers would have to give serious thought to that if the

industry was to maintain equal pay for all workers.

Mr Hill, who has been secretary of the Canterbury union and national secretary since 1959, said the industry had always had its problems. The employers had had a problem when the 40-hour week was introduced. He remembered an employer saying that the industry would be killed when the 10-minute morning and afternoon tea break was introduced. However, common sense and reasonable discussion by both parties had overcome all the problems. One of the greatest problems of the early days had been the question of protection, he said. He remembered the employers’ and union representatives going to the Government together on the need for protection against cheap imports. “We must watch that this problem does not arise again,” Mr Hill said. “I have been to many countries and know that the New Zealand clothing industry cannot compete with goods from Taiwan and other Eastern countries—but I also know that New Zealand has as good a clothing industry as any other 1 have seen in the world.”